Sports Spectrum

Real issues in sports and life.

Tags: challenges

Last Thursday night a truly rare occurrence took place in college basketball—a team finished a game without five players on the court. In soccer, it is not unusual for a team to play a man down because when a player receives a red card they are disqualified for the remainder of the game—and cannot be…

This weekend, the eyes of the American sports public were largely focused on football. In college, the big games of the weekend included Texas against Kansas State, USC versus Utah, and Mississippi taking on LSU. There were also plenty of big contests in the NFL, as Baltimore faced off against Cincinnati, the Packers battled the…

Steve Stricker is one of my favorite golfers, partly because he isn’t a bomber, hitting the ball for miles and miles, and partly because of his calm demeanor. I have constantly heard comments from announcers and PGA players alike as to how respected and liked he is on the tour. Some years ago, it appeared…

Steve Stricker is one of my favorite golfers, partly because he isn’t a bomber, hitting the ball for miles and miles, and partly because of his calm demeanor. I have constantly heard comments from announcers and PGA players alike as to how respected and liked he is on the tour. Several years ago, it appeared…

We are now entering a most critical time in the men’s college basketball season. With only a handful of games to go before conference tournaments set the table for March Madness, teams are battling to avoid surprising upsets and to establish their credentials for the Big Dance in March. Syracuse, atop the rankings for much…

The PGA Championship this past weekend was being contested at the Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, New York. Major championship winner Ernie Els calls it, “The best, fairest, and toughest championship golf course I’ve ever played in all my years as a tour professional.” This is because of a brilliant combination of challenges for…

Coming into this year’s U. S. Open Championship, many of the “experts” talked about Merion Golf Club and its apparent vulnerability. It was deemed to be too old, too short, and too easy—causing those experts to predict record low scores as the greatest golfers in the world descended on Ardmore PA for this year’s second…

As Memorial Day weekend comes upon us, the Indianapolis 500, one of American sport’s greatest traditions, will roar across our televisions. Considered by many “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing,” the Indy 500 has long been among the most coveted titles in motorsports, gathering giant race teams like Penske, Ganassi, Andretti, and more to the competition. This…

After months of games, tournaments, and speculation, the field is now set for the NCAA Tournament. The #1 seeds are strong as always—Kentucky, North Carolina, Syracuse, Michigan State—but history has proven that their strength guarantees them very little. Though no #1 seed has ever lost in the first round, second round upsets do occur, and…

Until recently, I paid little attention to NASCAR. It seemed that all NASCAR was about was turning left and going fast while turning left. Then, a few years ago, I went to Charlotte, NC, to do some work with Motor Racing Outreach. While there, we visited the car shops and met the teams that build…

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I had two very strange incidents happen to me in 2001. Both of them involved running into people from my home community in odd places.

The first one occurred at Conseco Field in Seattle. I was training a group of soldiers at Fort Lewis, Washington, and we decided to take in a baseball game. There were some 35,000 people in attendance. As I walked out of the exit, I heard a familiar voice call my name. When I turned around I saw Robert, one of the members of our small church in Springfield, Virginia, some 2,800 miles east of Seattle. What…